Setting the stage for local, state elections

Monday

Having started in the Registrar of Voters Office as a junior clerk typist in 1994, Paula Bergevin eventually advanced to the senior post of assistant to the registrar of voters’ board.

Having started in the Registrar of Voters Office as a junior clerk typist in 1994, Paula Bergevin eventually advanced to the senior post of assistant to the registrar of voters’ board.

And although she never graduated from college, Bergevin said that she had a great teacher in the person of her late aunt Emily Green, who had worked there for more than 35 years.
She also gives credit to the other two workers in the office, Barbara Machniki, junior clerk typist, and part-time clerk Lorraine Pacheco.

Q: We’re heading into a city election. Have things been ratcheting up lately, and if so how have you and your staff been handling it?

A: Well I am used to it, I’ve been doing it for so long. First I have to do the nomination papers, which the candidates bring in after getting enough signatures to get certified. It’s a lot of work.

Q: How does a city as opposed to a state election affect your routine?

A: Well the city is very easy, because they only need 25 signatures, even though I tell them to get at least 50. In a state [election] year that’s a little more work, a little more time-consuming, because they need a lot more signatures. And since there’s no preliminary [this year] it’s a little less hectic and I can stay on top of my other duties.
The reason there is no city preliminary election is because there weren’t enough candidates running in any of the offices who’ll be on the ballot in November.

Q: It will save the city $45,000 in the long run if I’m not mistaken.

A: Yes, but due to the death of Sen. Kennedy we’re really not going to be saving anything, because there will be a special election in January. We’ll get reimbursed something from the state (note: $6,000, according to Mayor Charles Crowley), but we’ll have to pay for the special election.

Q: What’s it like working in the office of the Registrar of Voters?

A: It’s always a deadline. Nomination papers have to be certified by a certain date and turned into the [city] clerk’s office on a certain date.
In December, I start gearing up for the city census which goes out annually. It takes about a month just opening up over 24,000 pieces of mail; then it has to be sorted by the three of us by precinct. There’s a deadline on that because that information has to be given to the jury commissioner by the end of June. But in a state year it’s really crazy.
You know we are short-staffed here. People don’t realize the amount of work this little office does on a daily basis.

Q: What do you like about this job?

A: I’m always busy, always busy. And I like the girls I work with, we get along well. And I enjoy the people who come in here. I just love working here.

cwinokoor@tauntongazette.com

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